Dissertation Research: Meanings of Aging and Chronic Illness

慢性病的发病率和对医疗保健的需求随着年龄的增长而增加。老年人可能会将震颤或迟缓等生理变化视为正常的生物衰老。然而，这些身体表现也是进行性神经系统疾病--帕金森氏病(PD)的症状。帕金森病会导致残疾，产生令人尴尬的症状，并需要获得昂贵的处方和医疗专家的护理。这项研究调查了一种将衰老视为不可避免的身体衰退期的文化模型如何影响老年人对可能由正常衰老或进行性疾病引起的身体变化的体验。这项研究调查了为什么患有帕金森病的老年人决定寻求治疗。对帕金森病患者的自传式采访、在支持小组会议上的观察、对家庭照顾者和医生的采访，以及与没有帕金森氏症的老年人的焦点小组，将提供关于个人对衰老迹象的看法以及这些看法与他们对医疗保健的主观需求之间的关系的信息。一份衡量健康状况的问卷将被用来探索参与者的信念和他们的疾病负担之间的联系。美国人口老龄化突显了设计考虑健康、疾病和老龄化文化模式的服务的重要性。更广泛的影响：这项研究探索了信仰、生物学和医疗保健之间的关系，并将老年人的观点纳入了更大的医疗保健审查。这项研究可能会为改善诊断、医疗保健政策和医患沟通提供建议。该项目突出了受歧视人口的需求，并有助于教育一名年轻的社会科学家。

The incidence of chronic illness and the need for healthcare increase with age. Older adults may regard physical changes such as tremor or slowness as normal biological aging. However, these physical manifestations are also symptoms of the progressive neurological condition, Parkinson's Disease (PD). PD causes disability, produces embarrassing symptoms, and requires access to costly prescriptions and the care of medical specialists. This research investigates how a cultural model of aging as a period of inevitable physical decline affects elderly persons' experience of physical changes that may be due to normal aging or to progressive disease. The study examines why older persons with PD made the decision to seek medical treatment. Autobiographical interviews with PD sufferers, observations at support group meetings, interviews with family caregivers and physicians, and focus groups with older adults who do not have PD, will provide information regarding individuals' perceptions of the signs of aging and the relationship between those perceptions and their subjective need for healthcare. A questionnaire that measures health status will be used to explore the connections between participants' beliefs and their disease burden. The aging of the US population underscores the importance of designing services that account for cultural models of health, disease, and aging. Broader Impacts: This study explores the relationships among beliefs, biology, and healthcare, and incorporates older adults' perspectives within a larger examination of healthcare. The study may provide recommendations for improving diagnosis, healthcare policy, and doctor-patient communication. The project highlights the needs of a stigmatized population and contributes to the education of a young social scientist.